


Flaming June

by Anthemyst



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Based on a Tumblr Post, F/M, Supervillain Power Couple
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-20
Updated: 2018-05-06
Packaged: 2018-09-09 23:12:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,773
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8916787
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Anthemyst/pseuds/Anthemyst
Summary: Based on this tumblr post by Metawohoo: http://metawohoo.tumblr.com/post/152636627639/with-friends-like-theseOn a warm, sunny day in late August, Gabriel Agreste’s private cell phone rang. He glanced quickly at the caller ID, and for a moment the world seemed to stop spinning. Gabriel Agreste was not a man with a tendency to doubt the evidence of his eyes, but right now it was difficult to believe them.Slowly, Gabriel answered his phone and held it to his ear. He couldn't bring himself to speak for another few seconds. The gentle breathing of the person waiting for his response at the other end was all too familiar. It had haunted Gabriel’s dreams for a long time now.“June?”“Hello, darling. Did you miss me?”





	1. Prologue

On a warm, sunny day in late August, Gabriel Agreste’s private cell phone rang. He glanced quickly at the caller ID, and for a moment the world seemed to stop spinning. Gabriel Agreste was not a man with a tendency to doubt the evidence of his eyes, but right now it was difficult to believe them.

Slowly, Gabriel answered his phone and held it to his ear. He couldn't bring himself to speak for another few seconds. The gentle breathing of the person waiting for his response at the other end was all too familiar. It had haunted Gabriel’s dreams for a long time now.

“June?”

“Hello, darling. Did you miss me?”

 

~~~

 

“Did Mom say _why_ she was away for so long?” Adrien asked his father. It had taken him all week to work up the nerve to ask, and the only thing that pushed him over the edge now was the fact that they were currently waiting for her in the airport. Adrien didn’t want to be _completely_ in the dark when he finally saw his mother again, after all.

“She did not,” his father replied curtly. He glanced at his watch. “Her flight is late,” he complained.

“That’s not Mom’s fault, Father.”

“Hmph.” Gabriel looked as though he disagreed strongly with this statement, but he said no more on the subject.

After what felt like forever, but was probably only another fifteen or twenty minutes, a fresh wave of people appeared from the other side of the terminal, on the other side of the security barrier. Adrien craned his neck, trying to get a good look at everyone coming through, but it was his father’s sudden intake of breath that told Adrien his mother was among them, before he even saw her. She was a petite woman, but she managed to make her way to the front of the crowd with little difficult. She caught sight of her family and waved, her face breaking out into a wide grin. She didn’t run, but her walk was rapid and decisive, and she was quickly on the other side of the partition.

“Adrien! My darling!” She threw her arms open and her son rushed into them. She laughed as she hugged him, and kissed the top of his head. “Oh, baby, I’ve missed you so much! Look at you, look how you’ve grown!”

“I missed you too, Mom,” Adrien said, hugging her even more tightly. His mother kissed him once more, then gently released him and looked up at her husband.

“Hello, Gabriel,” she said softly. If Gabriel hadn’t known her so well, he might have actually thought she was nervous.

“June,” he said. June reached up and softly put a hand to one cheek. She pulled him down as she went up on her toes, leaning forward, and kissed his lips. “I missed you as well,” she whispered. Then she turned back to her son, grinning. “I can’t _wait_ to get back home,” she said emphatically. “Let’s get out of here, shall we?”

 

~~~

 

“Mom?” Adrien said hesitantly, once they were all comfortably seated in the limousine and driving away from the airport.

“Yes, my love?”

“What, um… what have you been doing?”

“Whatever do you mean, darling?” June asked, seeming genuinely confused.

“You were gone for a year and a half,” Adrien said. “When you left, Father said you’d be back in a month or two, but-”

“Ugh,” June groaned, cutting her son off. “I know, I know, it was a _nightmare_ , it took so much longer than it should have. You poor thing, how you must hate me now.”

“I don’t hate you!” Adrien protested. It was one of June’s more obvious emotional tricks, but evidently Adrien was still completely susceptible to it.

“Oh, thank goodness,” June said, smiling. “I’m so relieved. So we can just put it all behind us?”

“But… but I don’t know _why_ you-”

“Honestly, Adrien, if I have to think about work for another second I just know I’m going to get the most _awful_ headache. You don’t mind, do you?”

“No, of course not,” Adrien said half-heartedly. June frowned.

“Adrien, is something _wrong_?” his mother asked. This was a more advanced emotional manipulation, one she’d explained in detail to Gabriel once. The trick to it, June had told him, was to corner them before they were ready to commit to confrontation. Once you’d gotten them to say out loud that nothing was wrong, they became invested in the idea, she’d explained, and they’d do most of the work for you from then on out. Gabriel had never quite been able to pull it off as effortlessly as June did.

“No, nothing’s wrong,” Adrien insisted. “You’re back, everything’s perfect.”

“Oh, good,” June said. She patted his knee maternally. “Now tell me everything you’ve been up to, I want to hear all of it.”

“Oh, of course. Um. Well, I started going to school last year-”

“School! My goodness, how exciting. Tell me all about it, darling.” Adrien began talking, and didn’t notice the look his mother shot his father over his head, a single eyebrow raised that quite clearly said _We’ll be discussing this later_.

Adrien was still telling his mother about school, and all his friends, when they finally pulled up to the steps of the Agreste mansion. June took a deep, satisfied breath as she stepped out of the car, breathing in the air of her home for the first time in over eighteen months.

“Goodness,” she said, “it feels good to be home.”

 

~~~

 

“Adrien, love,” June said, as they entered the foyer, “I can’t wait to hear the rest of everything, but right now I’d like to discuss some things with your Father. You don’t mind, do you?”

“Oh… no, that’s fine, um, I think… I think Nathalie’s taking me to a photo shoot soon anyway.”

“Perfect.” June kissed her son’s cheek, and waved as he walked off, before turning towards her husband’s office. She walked towards it, and Gabriel followed silently. He closed the door behind him as his wife stood in the center of the room, looking around slowly. “You redecorated,” she observed. “That’s a difficult feat with a style as minimalist as yours.”

Gabriel raised an eyebrow. “June,” he said. “We have things to discuss.”

“We certainly do,” his wife agreed. “ _School_ , Gabriel?”

“We were never going to be able to keep him in this house forever,” her husband replied. “And you weren’t around to manage him. He grew… dissatisfied. Rebellious. I tried a firmer hand, but Nathalie convinced me that-”

“ _Nathalie_?” The left corner of June’s mouth twitched up into a half-smirk. “You’re taking your orders from Nathalie now? Goodness, you _did_ miss me, didn’t you?”

“I am doing no such thing,” Gabriel said, and for the first time since he’d been reunited with his wife he sounded defensive. She laughed.

“Don’t worry, I’m not jealous,” June said. “It’s not like I can blame you. Honestly, it’s a wonder you’re forgiving me at all, after I’ve been gone for so long.”

“Who says I’m forgiving you?” Gabriel asked coldly.

“Oh,” June said, her voice a sigh. “It’s like that?” She walked over to Gabriel. Slowly, intentionally. She stopped right in front of him and looked up, her large green eyes piercing straight through his defenses. For a few seconds they simply stared at one another, and then Gabriel grabbed her and kissed her. It was nothing like their soft, seemly kiss at the airport-this one was raw, and angry, and exactly what they both needed. June’s hands went behind her husband’s neck and she pulled herself up to him, kissing him back, biting his lip before he pulled away and began working his way down her neck, her collarbone.

“Don’t ever do that again, June,” Gabriel whispered fiercely. “I can’t be without you.”

“I noticed,” she said wryly. “They do have newspapers at the airport, you know.” Surprised, Gabriel pulled back to stare at her. “I thought we agreed you’d lay low while I was gone,” she added.

“I thought we agreed you’d be back in two months,” Gabriel replied.

“Fair enough, my sweet.” June sighed. “Well, now that I’m back, I suppose I’ll be reclaiming my own powers in order to tidy this city up a bit, won’t I?” She looked at her husband expectantly, and after a moment, he walked towards the enormous portrait of her. She followed closely, watching as he swung the painting aside, punched a number into the safe behind it, and opened the door for her. June stepped forward and picked up the Peacock Miraculous.

There was a sudden flash of light, and an excited cry. “June!”

“Duusu, darling!” June exclaimed, grinning. The small blue sprite embraced her cheek happily.

“I missed you so much!”

“I missed you too, love. I wish I could have taken you with me, I really do. But I could hardly pose as a novice while wearing a stolen miraculous, could I?”

“Did you find my cousins?” Duusu asked eagerly.

“Yes,” Gabriel said dryly, “I’m rather interested in the answer to that question myself.”

A brief flash of rage passed over June’s face. “I got all I could out of that monastery,” she said. “It was not _nearly_ as much as I’d been planning on getting. But I have some leads. We can work with it.” June took a deep breath. “In the meantime, Duusu, you and I need to clean up Gabriel’s handiwork. You won’t _believe_ what he’s been up to while we’ve been away.”

“I did draw out the major Miraculouses while you were gone, my treasure,” Gabriel said, defensive once more. “I do rather think that's something of an accomplishment.

“It is,” June agreed. “However, since then you seem to have stalled. And you’ve given these new superheroes nearly a year of training and experience. They’ll only be harder and harder to take out as time goes on, you know. Why on earth have you been dragging your feet about it?”

Gabriel froze. “Ah,” he said. “Well. That, I’m afraid, is a complication.”

“It better not be,” June said, her voice going low. “I _hate_ complications.”

“You have no idea,” her husband replied, “how much you’re going to hate this one.”

June raised an eyebrow. “Well?”

Gabriel coughed. “We can’t take out Chat Noir,” he said.

June folded her arms. “Why the hell not?”

Gabriel sighed. “He’s Adrien.”

For a good minute, June was speechless. “Adrien,” she finally repeated. “Adrien is this Chat Noir.”

“I'm afraid so, my love.”

June took a deep, slow breath. “Well that’s what comes of letting him go to school,” she muttered. “Honestly, I can't leave you alone for a second.”

“Oh, you give yourself too little credit, darling,” Gabriel said wryly. “You're perfectly capable of leaving me alone for a second. You left me alone for eighteen months, in fact. That's nearly fifty million seconds.”

“Oh.” June pressed her lips into a sympathetic pout. “My poor, suffering husband. You're right, of course.” She walked over to her husband, went up on her toes, and kissed his cheek. “This is just as much my fault as yours. But don’t worry, love, we’ll figure it out. Now that we’re reunited, there’s no obstacle we can’t defeat.”


	2. Plotting

“…And then this _one_ time, Ladybug just jumped straight into the mouth of a T-Rex! Like it was nothing! She’s so brave,” Adrien sighed dreamily.

“That’s incredible, sweetheart,” his mother said brightly. She'd been listening to this all breakfast, but she looked exactly as captivated as she had at the beginning of the meal. “She certainly sounds amazing. I can’t wait to see her in action for myself.” June quickly glanced over at her husband, then looked back at Adrien. “Have you ever met her in person?”

“Oh, um…” Adrien dropped eye contact; June was pleased to discover he was still a terrible liar, at least by her standards. “A couple of times, that’s all. There was an akuma after Father one time, so she came to the mansion.”

“Really? Fascinating. Gabriel, you’ll have to tell me all about that.” June grinned at the look of annoyance that flashed across her husband’s face.

“Sometime later, love,” he said brusquely, rising from the table. “I have meetings all day.”

“That’s fine,” June said lightly, “so long as your evening belongs to me.” She raised an eyebrow expectantly, and after a moment her husband walked over.

“Of course,” he said, leaning down and kissing her cheek before leaving.

June turned back to her son. “What about the other one?” she asked. “The other hero? He sounds very brave, too.”

“Oh, well,” Adrien blushed a little, “yeah, he’s pretty good I guess. He’s no Ladybug, though.” And then Adrien continued to tell his mother about Ladybug, completely uninterested in telling her about his own superhero accomplishments.

 _God damn it, Gabriel_ , June thought to herself, annoyed. _How could you possibly have allowed this to happen?_

“Sometimes I worry you’re a little too much like your father, Adrien,” June said idly, reaching over and running her fingers gently through her son’s hair, cutting him off mid-story. He frowned, completely and utterly baffled, but his mother didn’t elaborate.

 

~~~

 

Gabriel was reviewing concept art for a new formalwear line after dinner that evening when his wife entered his office. She walked around his desk, stopping behind him, and leaned down. “Gabriel,” June murmured into his ear, “we have work to do. I’ll see you upstairs.” And then she left, not waiting for a response.

Fifteen minutes later, after he’d put away his work and gone after his wife, Gabriel found June in one of the smaller upstairs rooms, a cozy room with a lit fireplace and a large flat-screen television above it. June had dimmed the lights and set out two wine glasses, and she was waiting for Gabriel on a cushy loveseat. She smiled warmly as he entered the room. Gabriel took a few moments to take in the scene, then locked the door behind him. Gabriel crossed the room silently and picked up the two glasses, handing one to his wife before holding his own up to the light.

“Syrah?”

“It’s really the only thing that pairs with nefarious plotting, don’t you agree?” June asked. She patted the cushion next to her and Gabriel sat down.

“And what nefarious plotting did you have in mind for tonight, love?” he asked. In response, June picked up a remote and turned the TV on. The screen lit up with the image of their son as Chat Noir.

“We need to figure out what to do about this Ladybug situation, Gabriel,” June said. “And since you’ve already had nine months to work on it yourself with no results, that means _I_ need to figure out what to do about it. Which means I need to get a much better idea of what our son is like as a superhero, and how his partnership with Ladybug functions. Which means we’re watching all the footage of the two of them I could track down.” She took a sip of wine, then placed the glass down and curled up to Gabriel. “There’s no reason we shouldn’t enjoy ourselves while we do so, though, don’t you agree?” She pressed a button, and the paused clip started playing. They watched the footage of Stoneheart in silence for a few minutes; Gabriel was tense at first, unsure of how his wife was judging his own performance, but he relaxed after a bit, when it was clear that June was enjoying herself.

“I really have missed this,” June said, pulling her legs up under herself and leaning more heavily on her husband. “You and me. Plotting. It feels nice to get back to basics.”

“I couldn’t agree more, my love,” Gabriel replied, putting an arm around June’s shoulders and kissing the top of her head.

About five akumas later, June broke the silence. “I want to be angry about all this,” she said, “but honestly, I'm just proud. He really is spectacular, isn't he? How on earth did that happen?”

“I certainly can’t take credit for it,” Gabriel replied.

“Nor I,” June said. “Perhaps we shouldn't have sheltered him so much. We clearly miscalculated his potential. We spent so long thinking of him as something to protect, we never saw him as a possible ally. Maybe he could have been brought around to our way of thinking, if we’d started early. But I suppose that ship has sailed.” She sighed sadly. “He’s a _hero_ now.”

Another five in, and now June was starting to get annoyed. “Good Lord, Gabriel, how many akumas did you send out while I was gone?” she asked. “And how many did it take before you realized Chat Noir was our son?”

“More than I’d care to admit,” he replied stiffly.

“Adrien certainly does go out of his way to sacrifice himself for her at every possible opportunity, doesn’t he? Even if I didn’t want it for myself, at this point I’d be scheming to take the damn ring from him just to keep him from killing himself over this girl.”

“We can’t just take it,” Gabriel said. “You know how Miraculouses work. We need him to surrender it willingly.”

“I know that, Gabriel,” June snapped. “Well, at least heroes are predictable. Threatening someone he loves should do the trick.”

“He loves Ladybug,” Gabriel replied immediately. June rolled her eyes.

“Is this really the level of thinking you've applied to your situation while I've been away? No wonder you stalled. Gabriel, threatening Ladybug is a losing game. We need a damsel, not another damn hero. It would be far easier if Adrien simply liked some other girl, one who _can_ be threatened.”

“I don't think we have much say in who our son loves, my treasure.”

June threw her head back and laughed in her husband's face for a good ten seconds. “Good Lord, Gabriel,” she said, when she finally recovered her powers of speech, “for a man who can directly manipulate the emotions of others, you certainly are naive about them. Of course we can control who our son loves.”

Gabriel seemed skeptical of this, but he said nothing, and they went back to watching the footage. It was another fifteen minutes or so before June sat up suddenly.

“She doesn’t love him back,” June said. “Look. Look how they are. See? Her body language, I don’t know why I didn’t notice it earlier. She cares for him, obviously, but she has no interest in him whatsoever romantically.”

“Are you sure?” Gabriel asked.

“Positive.” June frowned. “It’s rather infuriating, actually, now that I think on it. How dare she? Our son is perfect. As though killing her wasn’t already going to be easy enough.” She shook her head, and her expression brightened. “At any rate, that will make this _much_ easier.”

“I don't see how,” Gabriel said. “Most men find the ambivalence of women to be intoxicating.” He looked his wife up and down as he said this, and she chuckled softly.

“I don't need you to tell me what men find intoxicating, sweet,” she said merrily. “But our son is not a man. He is a teenage boy. And the attentions of teenage boys are easily diverted. There must be some acceptable girl in his life already?”

“The Bourgeois girl?” Gabriel suggested. June shook her head gently.

“I don't think so, my heart. They've known each other far too long, they're like siblings. Besides, you know I adore Chloe but there's really only enough room in this family for one blonde who always gets what she wants, don't you think? No, not Chloe. Who else is he friends with? Some girl from that _school_ , perhaps. We might as well get some use out of it.”

Gabriel hesitated. “You'll have to ask Nathalie,” he finally said.

June raised an eyebrow. “Good Lord, Gabriel, do you mean to tell me that not only have you been allowing our son to go to school, you haven't even been keeping tabs on who he associates with while he’s there?” June rolled her eyes in exasperation. “Never mind. I’ll find someone, don’t you worry.”


	3. The Party

“Do you have everything you need, darling?” June asked her son anxiously. “Is there enough food for everyone? Is the music-”

“Everything’s great, Mom,” Adrien assured her, looking around the heavily decorated mansion foyer, filled with all of Adrien’s friends from school. “Everything’s perfect.” He threw his arms around his mother. “Thank you so much for getting Father to agree to this.”

“Oh, Adrien, how could I not?” June asked, hugging him back tightly. “After hearing about how your birthday went last year,” she covered her heart with her hand, her expression suddenly pained, “and of course I feel _awful_ that I wasn’t here to do anything about it, how could I not do everything in my power to make sure this party was anything less than perfect? Besides, I needed to meet all your wonderful new friends, didn’t I? And now they’re here, and you’ve introduced me to all of them and they’re wonderful, really Adrien, I’m so happy.” June tenderly brushed an errant piece of hair out of Adrien’s face. “Well, if you think of anything else you need, anything at all, you can reach me on the intercom, I’ll be upstairs in-”

“You’re not staying?” Adrien asked, his face falling somewhat. June laughed.

“Oh, darling, you don’t want your boring old mom at your party with all your friends! I’d just keep you from having a good time, I want you to be able to relax and be yourself.”

“You’re not-” June cut off her son’s protest with a quick peck on the forehead, and before Adrien could say anything more she was already on her way up the stairs. Shrugging, he turned back around and began to mingle.

 

~~~

 

“Alright, love,” June said, entering the upstairs security room, “we should have about twenty minutes before Phase Two, I think that should be enough time to-” June stopped talking mid-sentence, catching sight of her husband.

“What?”

“Nothing, just… you transformed already.”

Hawkmoth raised an eyebrow. “I know you think you can plan these things to the minute, my heart, but if the girl shows up early I want to be prepared.”

June nodded. “Of course, you’re right. You just took me by surprise, that’s all. You… you changed the outfit.”

“Well, I am closer to fifty than forty. The original was, I felt, a bit too ‘Don Juan’ for a man at my current stage in life.” He paused. “Do you like it?”

“Mm hmm,” June said, but she was biting her lip and she looked distinctly like she didn’t trust herself to speak without laughing. Her husband scowled.

“You don’t have to humor me-”

“Oh no, darling, no, I _do_ like it,” June insisted, rushing to his side and putting a hand on his arm. “I mean, it is a _bit_ … well, much, but you know me, darling, I don’t have your head for fashion, if you like it then I’m sure it’s wonderful.”

Only slightly mollified, Hawkmoth turned to the security cameras. “Did you find our son an acceptable paramour yet?”

“I narrowed it down,” June said. “I’ll need to observe them without adult supervision for a bit to be sure, though.” She sat down in the room’s only chair and began flipping through the audio channels. There were about five cameras currently covering the party, and June had the feed from each one up in front of her, but she could only listen to one location at a time. Her husband stood patiently behind her, one hand resting lightly on her shoulder, while she worked.

“I like her,” June finally said, pointing at one of the girls in Adrien’s class. “Such a timid little thing, isn’t she? I’m sure she’d make an excellent damsel.”

“Perhaps.” Hawkmoth leaned forward to get a closer look. “Ah. Her. Well, she certainly made an excellent damsel during my first akuma attack.”

“Oh, is _that_ who she is?” June frowned. “Pity. We’d have to split her and the golem up first, wouldn’t we? Too much trouble.”

“What about that reporter girl?” Hawkmoth asked, pointing to the screen currently showing Alya Cesaire. June rolled her eyes.

“Are you serious, Gabriel? She’d be almost as bad as Ladybug. Maybe worse, in some ways. We need timid, we need shy, and we need somebody who doesn’t already have her eyes on another boy.”

“Hmm.” Hawkmoth fell silent as June continued to watch and flip through audio channels.

“No… no… that one’s far too assertive… that one’s too codependent on Chloe already, too much work to take care of that… now, those two are clearly just dating _each other_ -”

“-sorry, his mom just bothers me, okay?” June’s eyes widened as audio of one of Adrien’s friends talking about her came through. She quickly checked which camera the channel was attached to, and switched the main monitor to it. Three of Adrien’s friends came up, near the edge of the party and on the opposite side of the room from Adrien. They were keeping their voices low, completely oblivious to the fact that they were right next to a microphone.

“Come on, Nino, you just met the woman, give her a chance,” Alya said.

“Yeah, I just met her. Because she _disappeared_. For a year and a half! Have you asked Adrien about where she was?”

“Nino, it’s not really any of our business-”

“He doesn’t know! She just said a bunch of vague stuff when she got back, and my boy is dying to know, who wouldn’t be, but now he won’t even ask her. She does something weird to his head, man. I don’t like it. It’s like he doesn’t realize how messed up the whole situation is when she’s around. She’s, like, Jedi Mind-Tricking him.”

Behind June, Hawkmoth snorted, and she whirled around, glaring. “It is a rather apt comparison, my love, you must confess,” he said, amused.

“That is Adrien’s _best friend_ ,” June said, her voice low and threatening. “Adrien does not need a best friend who questions his relationship with his mother. I see _exactly_ what you mean about the boy being a bad influence on our son.”

“You were the one who insisted on inviting him to this little party,” Hawkmoth said. “Completely undermining my banning him from the premises.”

“Yes, well, that’s because banning him from the house is idiotic, Gabriel,” June said. “Honestly, sometimes it’s like you’ve forgotten every single thing I’ve taught you about human nature.”

“Really? In that case, how do _you_ think we should handle this problem?”

“One crisis at a time, my pet,” June said. “First we need to get his Miraculous away from him. Then we can worry about culling his group of friends.”

“-know why you’re worried about him, Nino,” the third person said. “I’m worried about Adrien, too. But he’s so _happy_ , now that she’s back. If we want to be good friends, shouldn’t we just be as supportive as we can be? Shouldn’t we be happy, too?”

June’s expression brightened. “Now _her_ , her I like.” She squinted at the screen. “Isn’t that the girl that won your little hat contest?”

“Perhaps. I can’t say I remember, honestly.”

“She was so flustered when Adrien was introducing her to me earlier,” June said. “And she obviously cares for Adrien a great deal. She might be perfect.”

Just then, the buzzer to the front gate rang. June glanced at the gate’s security feed. “Perfect timing.” She leaned over and pressed the button for the intercom. “Yes?”

Mireille Caquet looked into the camera nervously. “Hello? Hi, yes, I’m a friend of Adrien’s from school, I’m here for the party-”

“You’re late,” June interrupted.

Mireille frowned and looked at her invitation. “Really? I was told it started at-”

“If you don’t know what time the party started, you must not have really been invited,” June said curtly. “Besides, Adrien told me that all his friends are here already. Are you really his friend? Or are you some kind of undercover paparazzi? I know I’ve seen you on TV, and I have absolutely no patience with you vultures trying to spy on my family.”

“What?” Mireille said, beginning to get distraught. “No, I’m his friend, we go to the same school! I just do the weather on the KIDZ+ channel, I’m not like a _real_ -”

“If you don’t leave in the next ten seconds,” June said, her voice as threatening as possible, “I’m calling the police, do you understand?” Now close to tears, Mireille turned around and practically ran from the gate.

“Masterfully done, my love,” Hawkmoth said. He opened the hatch of the small terrarium he’d brought with him, and a white butterfly gently fluttered out. A second later it was in his waiting palm, and in no time at all he’d turned it black and sent it off.

“Hello, Wallflower,” Hawkmoth said, a few minutes later. “I am Hawkmoth. You’ve been hurt, you've been wronged, you've been ignored one too many times. I want to help you right those wrongs. All I ask is that you do a little something for me in return.”

“Oh, honestly, you're still going to send her after the Miraculouses?” June asked. “If it didn't work the first hundred times-”

“I can't very well change my modus operandi now, can I?” her husband replied. “It would be suspicious. Besides, there’s no harm in trying.” He turned his attention back to Mireille. “Simply retrieve Ladybug and Chat Noir’s Miraculouses for me, and I will give you the power to exact your revenge.”

June couldn't hear the girl’s response, of course, but she had no doubt as to what it would be. Standing, June wrapped her arms around her husband’s waist. “Mm,” she purred, “I do love watching you work. I wish I could stay, but I'd better be downstairs when she arrives.” She went up on her toes and kissed her husband lightly before leaving.

 

~~~

 

“Oh my goodness, I just feel so _awful_ about everything, so dreadfully awful, this is all my fault,” June said, shaking and wringing her hands before throwing her arms around Mireille. “Can you ever forgive me?”

“No, _I’m_ sorry,” Mireille said. “I shouldn’t have gotten so upset, it was obviously just a big misunderstanding. Of course you couldn’t have known that my invitation had the wrong time on it, you were just trying to protect Adrien-”

“Neither of you needs to be sorry,” Adrien said. He’d reappeared shortly after the akuma had been cleansed, and June marveled that his abrupt exit and return, so clumsily executed, had not struck anybody present as suspicious. “This is all Hawkmoth’s fault, and nobody else’s,” he continued. “He wants us to blame ourselves and each other, but we can’t, we can’t let him win like that. We can’t give him the satisfaction.”

“Well,” June said, brushing away a tear and glancing at her husband, “I suppose I would hate to give Hawkmoth any kind of satisfaction.”

“That’s the spirit,” Adrien said, completely failing to notice the look his father was giving his mother. “You’re sure you’re okay, Mom?”

June nodded. Looking like you were putting on a brave face was so _easy_ , all you had to do was shake a little, nod nervously, smile, and everyone around you instantly thought of you as so brave, so strong. “I’m fine, love, really. I just hope this hasn’t ruined your little party.”

“No way,” Adrien said. “It’ll be even better now that Mireille’s here.”

“Well, I’m glad to hear it,” June said. Glancing over Adrien’s shoulder, she noticed Marinette suddenly returning to the party and she smiled to herself.

When Wallflower had shown up, just as June was “checking in” on the party, she’d angrily declared that now June would know how it felt to be unseen, before turning the woman invisible. June couldn’t have been happier, of course. It gave her the perfect opportunity to observe everything as closely as possible. Not only had June gotten to witness an actual superhero battle up close, but she’d _also_ managed to spot Marinette quickly running away and hiding first thing. It was all June needed to see to know that the girl was perfect for Adrien. She was timid, painfully shy, and obviously lovestruck around Adrien. Her instinct during an attack was to hide, not fight. She was inclined to give June the benefit of the doubt, and defend her from that awful friend of Adrien’s. She was an aspiring designer, so June and Gabriel would have plenty of excuses to ask about her-maybe even offer her an internship, and make sure she was at the mansion as often as possible. And, to top it all off, she was one of the few classmates Adrien had that Gabriel had yet to akumatize. That meant they could save it for something truly devastating, for when Adrien was properly in love with the girl and completely unwilling to fight against her.

“Darling,” June said, dropping her voice to a conspiratorial tone, “your friend Marinette seemed awfully upset during the attack. Why don’t you go make sure she’s alright? I’m sure she’d appreciate that.”

“Huh?” Adrien glanced over at Marinette, who was now talking to Alya and Mireille as though nothing were wrong. “She seems fine to-”

“Don’t be rude, Adrien,” June said, giving him a gentle shove towards the girl. Adrien walked over, and June was pleased to see Marinette turn bright red the second Adrien asked if she was okay.

“You’ve made your decision, then?” Gabriel asked, stepping next to his wife.

June nodded. “She’s perfect.”


	4. The Competition

“I hate to say it,” Gabriel said, after a solid twenty minutes of silent contemplation, “but I do believe Miss Dupain-Cheng’s submission is the best.”

“Really?” Frowning, June crossed to the dress that Marinette had submitted to the annual Gabriel design competition. “It is pretty,” she admitted.

“It’s more than pretty,” Gabriel said. “Every element of it is flawlessly executed. I think I would be giving her first place even if it wasn’t necessary to our plan. That muddles things somewhat, doesn’t it?”

“Perhaps.” June pursed her lips, thinking. “Well, identify whoever would get second place and have her come in last. Give her a lot of unjust criticism as well. I’ll be sure to do my part, and I think Marinette’s relative youth should do the rest.”

“Very well.” There was a knock at the door, and Adrien entered-a little too fast, for June’s taste. She made a mental note to herself to make sure Adrien walked in on her and Gabriel in some compromised position the next time he did that, just so he’d get the hint and wait for a clear ‘come in’ in the future. One could never be too careful, after all, when plotting world domination.

“Father? Are you almost ready to announce the winner?”

“Almost,” Gabriel replied. “I just need to ready my remarks for each submission.”

“Oh, are we taking too long?” June asked, frowning. “Is everyone quite restless?”

Adrien shook his head. “No, everything’s fine, it’s just we’re a few minutes over-”

“I think I must be slowing your father down. He has to explain everything to me, all these fashion technicalities go right over my little head,” June said breezily. “I hope your friend Marinette doesn’t mind the delay.”

“Marinette? Oh, no, she’s fine, I was just showing her around the studio actually. She’s never been inside the headquarters of a big design company, so I thought I’d-that’s okay, right?”

“Of course!” June beamed. “We love Marinette, darling, feel free to show her around as much of the company as she’d like. Just wait a bit for now, though, something tells me Marinette isn’t going to want to miss the announcement of the winners.” June winked.

Adrien’s eyes lit up. “Is she going to win?”

“Oh, don’t tell her I said anything! Be sure not to give anything away, promise?” June pleaded.

“Oh, yeah, of course not,” Adrien said, and June smiled. Now Adrien would be all secretive around Marinette, right before she was announced as the winner, and the appearance of unfair favoritism would only be strengthened.

“You know, it’s funny,” June said, putting a hand over her heart. “You get the strangest look on your face whenever you talk about Marinette, it’s so endearing. Why, it almost reminds me of the look your father would get when he was courting me all those years ago.”

“Really?” Adrien looked confused, but he smiled. “Huh.”

“Mm hmm. Well, you’d better get back to her so your father can finish up.” June ushered Adrien out of the room.

“I haven’t noticed that look on our son’s face,” Gabriel said. June rolled her eyes.

“Of course not,” she said impatiently. “He only has eyes for Ladybug. For now, that is.”

“Ah. This is another one of your ‘telling Adrien what to feel’ tactics.”

“Oh for goodness’ sake Gabriel, he’s a teenager, his real emotions don’t count. He’s much better off with me telling him what to feel.” She went up on her toes and kissed her husband’s cheek. “Time for Phase Two, love.”

 

* * *

 

“Marinette, darling, congratulations!” June hugged Marinette warmly, holding the girl close, but she made sure to speak loudly enough that all other contestants could hear her clearly. “Oh, I’m so glad Adrien’s favorite friend won!”

Marinette had accepted her first place ribbon with a grace and confidence that bespoke total certainty of exactly how talented she was, but now she blushed and giggled nervously. “Favorite friend?” she repeated. “Did, um, did Adrien really say that?”

“And of course you’re _my_ favorite of his friends, too, you know Gabriel would have gotten an earful if anyone else had taken first place!” Marinette smiled politely, but more than one contestant tensed, and the poor girl who would have been second glared from across the room. “Adrien! Adrien, love, come here.” Adrien walked over and June thrust a wallet into his hand. “Adrien, darling, you simply _must_ take Marinette out to celebrate winning the internship.”

“Oh, um,” Adrien accepted the wallet, “shouldn’t we all go out together? All four of us? And maybe Marinette’s parents could meet us-”

“Nonsense, darling, you don’t want your parents tagging along, you two go out and have a good time. Oh, I’m so happy!” June shooed them away, then joined her husband at the back of the room. “All set?”

“The young woman is sufficiently incensed.” He offered his arm to June. “Shall we?”

 

* * *

 

“You’d best get going,” Hawkmoth murmured. “Fashion Disaster is on her way back here, and she’s enraged at not being able to find Marinette. You should be a more than acceptable substitute.”

“Perfect.” June reached up and brushed her husband’s cheek. “I’m only sorry I didn’t get to watch you work for very long.”

Hawkmoth took her hand and gently kissed her fingers. “I’ll see you soon,” he murmured, “when we ambush Ladybug.”

June grinned. “Until then, my love.”

 

* * *

 

“You just wait here,” Fashion Disaster snarled at June, throwing her in an abandoned workroom of Gabriel headquarters, “until I find Marinette and the rest of the people who helped her cheat her way to first place! Then you’ll all admit that _my_ design was best!”

Wincing, June got to her feet. Her leg was bruised, she was sure of it. “You could have made her go a _little_ easier on me, darling,” she muttered to herself. June opened her clutch, and Duusu grinned up at her. “Ready to transform, love?”

“Ready!”

“Good. Duusu, feathers-”

Before June could finish, the door flew open. June snapped the purse shut, and quickly stepped out of the way as Fashion Disaster tossed Adrien inside before locking them in once more. “Ow,” Adrien muttered.

June blinked, her brain momentarily short-circuiting. Adrien. Adrien. Adrien was here. Adrien wasn’t supposed to be here. Adrien was supposed to be protecting that nice, timid girl June had picked out for him. Adrien was supposed to be tied up keeping that girl safe from Fashion Disaster. Adrien was supposed to be far, far away when Ladybug showed up. Ladybug was supposed to show up alone to rescue June. June was supposed to ambush Ladybug here. Adrien _wasn’t supposed to be here_.

“Darling,” June said slowly, “what… how…”

“I guess she thinks we made Father pick Marinette,” Adrien said miserably. “It’s ridiculous, Father would never show favoritism.”

“Yes. No, of course. But-” June stopped herself. She could hardly ask her son why he wasn’t protecting his girlfriend as Chat Noir. Perhaps June had overestimated her ability to push them together? No, of course not, overestimating herself would be impossible. Something else must have gone wrong. “Weren’t you with Marinette? Is she alright?”

“I hope so. She’s pretty good at hiding during akuma attacks, but they’re usually not after her specifically.” Adrien pulled at the door uselessly, and June could read clearly on his face his frustration at not being able to simply transform and Cataclysm his way out. He turned to his mother. “Are you alright?”

“Me? Oh, I’m fine, love,” June said, automatically putting a bit of a tremble into her voice. Adrien walked over to her and gave her a hug. “Thank you, darling.”

About fifteen minutes later, the door opened, and Ladybug rushed in. “Adrien! Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” Adrien said, “but-”

“Ladybug! Hand over your Miraculous!” Ladybug whirled around and just managed to dodge out of the way of Fashion Disaster’s needle attack. June pulled her son to the back of the room, and took the opportunity to watch Ladybug in action. She was unfortunately competent at fighting, although June was pleased to note she was far less effective without Adrien’s assistance. Still, Fashion Disaster wasn’t particularly intimidating, as akumas went. The point of her had simply been to lure Ladybug here, to where a true villain should have been waiting. In any case, the fight was over quickly, the butterfly purified, the Miraculous Ladybug cure cast. June’s leg was no longer bruised, that was something at least.

“Ladybug!” Adrien beamed at her, much to June’s annoyance. “You were amazing!”

“Really? Thanks, so were you-I mean, no, but you were, um,” Ladybug flustered, and June had to stop her jaw from dropping. She could hardly believe her eyes.

Ladybug had a crush on her son.

Well, no wonder Ladybug had no interest in Chat! Now that she thought of it, June did remember Ladybug acting somewhat flustered in the footage she’d watched with Gabriel earlier, the handful of times Adrien had been caught up in an attack as a civilian. And no wonder, really, Ladybug had probably fallen in love with Adrien at first sight, he was perfect after all. It would have been funny, if it wasn’t getting in the way of June’s plans. But redirecting Adrien’s attentions would be impossible if they were reciprocated, so there was nothing else for it. June was going to have to break Ladybug.

“June?” Gabriel appeared at the doorway. “Are you alright?” His face was drawn as he went to her.

“Fine, love.” June smiled up at him. “You’ll do better next time,” she purred. “Won’t you?” Gabriel nodded. “Good.”

Ladybug and Adrien were still awkwardly complimenting each other, totally oblivious to June and Gabriel’s presence, but as they headed for the door Adrien suddenly looked over. “Oh! Mom, you have to meet Ladybug!”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Agreste,” Ladybug said, in that nauseatingly cheerful tone of hers. She held out her hand, and June shook it. “Are you alright?”

“Oh, yes, thanks to you,” June replied, and Adrien beamed. “Adrien, love, don’t you think you’d better go find Marinette and make sure she’s alright?”

“Oh! Um, yeah, totally.” He turned back to Ladybug. “I have to find my friend, but thank you again!”

Once he was gone, Ladybug started to leave after him, but June stopped her with a light touch. “Ladybug, do you have a minute?” she asked gently.

“Um,” Ladybug winced as one of her spots started blinking, “One or two minutes, yeah, but I have to-”

“It’s just,” June frowned. “I mean, I’m very grateful of course, but, well, I can’t help but notice that this isn’t the first time Adrien’s been caught up in an attack.”

“Oh, well,” Ladybug frowned, “I’m afraid they’re very common, ma’am, a lot of people-”

“Adrien is such a special boy,” June interrupted. “Don’t you agree?”

Ladybug nodded emphatically. “Yes, he’s perfect-I mean, he’s very-”

“Yes, that’s what I thought.” June sighed dramatically. “You love my son, don’t you? Don’t lie, a mother can always tell.”

“Um-”

“And I’m sure you mean well, of course you do, you’re so noble and brave, aren’t you? But maybe you don’t appreciate that my son is not like you, he’s not a superhero, is he?” Ladybug shook her head slowly. “And when superheroes love people who aren’t superheroes… well, you’re young, maybe you haven’t heard the stories, but I’m afraid it just never ends well.”

Ladybug paled. “Never?”

“Well, you can look up the stories for yourself. I can’t count the number of times I’ve heard about a superhero’s love being kidnapped, or injured, or-oh!” June’s voice broke, and she brushed away a tear. “I just, Adrien is my entire world, Ladybug. I don’t think I could live with myself if anything happened to him, do you understand?”

Ladybug stared at June in wide-eyed horror, but before she could say anything another spot started blinking. “I, um, I have to go,” she said, exiting quickly.

“You came on a bit strong there, don’t you think?” Gabriel asked his wife wryly.

“Oh, Gabriel, you know superheroes. You can’t be subtle with them, they’re as thick as posts.” June brushed away the rest of her fake tears impatiently. “Well, at least they’re prone to self-punishment as well. That should be the last time Ladybug flirts with our son. If we’re lucky, she’ll even break his heart on purpose for his own good. He’ll go right to Marinette’s arms for comfort, I’m sure of it.”

“What about her Miraculous? We’re no closer to getting it than we were before.”

“Don’t be silly, darling.” June smiled coldly. “Just because Ladybug is resolved to stay away from our son doesn’t mean she won’t still be incredibly emotionally compromised if anything should happen to him. I think the next time we want to get Ladybug isolated and caught off-guard, we are going to have a _much_ easier time.”


End file.
